Medical staff at East Timor’s national hospital, Dili, said goodbye to onerous transcribing recently with the introduction of a new automated laboratory information system in partnership with St John of God (SJOG) Health Care.
Six SJOG pathology staff from Western Australia and Victoria spent up to six weeks training and assisting scientists at the Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares (HNGV) which helped ensure the seamless introduction of the new LabTRAK system in November 2012.
Dili-based scientist Nick Hayes said the initiative had achieved a ‘monumental goal’ in the provision of pathology services.
“The LabTRAK system was a foreign idea to [Timorese lab staff], having previously relied on pen and paper for recording diagnostic results,” Mr Hayes said.
“They have adapted to the new system very quickly and we are now able to develop its use as an education tool in the future.”
LabTRAK will help improve the quality of results due to the reduction in manual programming and transcription.
Timorese pathology workers have also responded with greater enthusiasm for laboratory processing tasks.
“The next step is to assist our Timorese colleagues, progressing from producing quality results to also understanding what the results mean and the direct effect the laboratory can have on improving patient outcomes by providing an efficient, effective and safe service,” Mr Hayes said.
SJOG provided its training and assistance as part of its Pathology Development Program in East Timor, which has been ongoing since 2004.